Astronauts

Astronauts successfully carried out one last spacewalk, finishing an unprecedented clean and lube job that they began a week ago at the International Space Station. Spacewalker Stephen Bowen wrapped up work on a jammed solar-wing rotary joint as partner Shane Kimbrough squirted extra grease as a precaution on another joint. NASA added a 16th day to space shuttle Endeavour's mission. Managers wanted to give the astronauts more time to fix a machine that's supposed to turn urine into drinking water.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station got a double dose of good news: A rotary joint that they spent days cleaning and lubing appeared to be working normally for the first time in more than a year, and a urine recycling machine finally was behaving. For more than a year, the jammed joint had prevented the solar wings on the right side of the space station from automatically pointing toward the sun. The space shuttle Endeavour's astronauts went out four times to clean and lubricate the joint and replace its bearings.

Astronauts got power flowing to the International Space Station's new robot, overcoming a problem that had threatened to disrupt shuttle Endeavour's construction mission. Working from inside, the astronauts used the space station's mechanical arm to grab and energize the sleeping giant, named Dextre, which had been dormant outside the orbiting complex for nearly two days. Electricity quickly began streaming to the robot's joints and electronics, to everyone's relief. "Good news from the flight control room," Mission Control announced in Houston.

The two International Space Station astronauts began a spacewalk this morning to install antennas and to release a small satellite, officials at NASA's Kennedy Space Center said. Cmdr. Leroy Chiao and his Russian crewmate, Salizhan Sharipov, left the space station empty for the second time in a few months. They took extra safety measures, officials said, because of a problem during their spacewalk in January, when Chiao got too close to firing thrusters.

The two astronauts on the International Space Station left their orbiting home in the hands of ground controllers Wednesday and floated outside to install an experimental robotic arm and inspect vents that might be causing air-supply equipment breakdowns. Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov found goo on the vents and hooked up the arm, solving a minor problem with a loose electrical connection. The spacewalk was the first in the pair's mission, now at the 3 1/2 -month point.

After becoming the first private company ever to blast a spacecraft into Earth orbit and have it return intact last month, Hawthorne rocket maker Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is pushing toward its next big step. The company known as SpaceX wants to be the first commercial firm to launch astronauts into outer space and has submitted a proposal to NASA. SpaceX wants in on the potentially multibillion-dollar job of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station after the space shuttle is retired this year.

Mission Control said good night to the Discovery astronauts a little early on their first day in space. Their scheduled bedtime was not until 6:37 p.m. PDT, but at 5:15, Lacy Veach, the astronaut who works with the crew from Mission Control here, initiated this exchange: "So we're going to say good night and not plan on talking to you again. We certainly had a fun day working with you." Discovery pilot Richard O. Covey responded: "Well, Lacy, we've had a fun day too so far.

Astronauts Frederick H. Hauck and George D. Nelson struggled through a rehearsal Saturday of what may be one of their toughest tasks of the entire flight of the shuttle Discovery: Getting dressed to go home. The astronauts have bulky new spacesuits for launch and re-entrythat include built-in parachutes, emergency provisions and even lifeboats.

Betty Grissom said her resignation from the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame governing board resulted from 30 years of frustration over the launch pad fire that killed her husband and two other Apollo 1 crewmen. At the heart of the issue was the board's decision not to induct Roger Chaffee, the junior member of that crew, because the January 1967 onboard fire killed him before he actually flew in space. "This might be the last straw," said Grissom, widow of space pioneer Virgil "Gus" Grissom.

Kids still want to be astronauts when they grow up. That, despite the tragic Challenger explosion nearly two years ago, is one thing that astronaut and Marine Corps Col. James F. Buchli has learned in speaking to students like those he met Friday at Hawthorne Intermediate School. Suited up in his blue NASA jump suit, Buchli talked with eighth-grade science students, fielding a barrage of questions that ranged from how much astronauts earn to the logistics of taking a shower in space.